Pumping Iron and Popcorn: Mavericks Sports Club and Cinema 3

Facility Name: Mavericks Sports Club and Cinema 3Location: Moorpark, CAOpened: 2003Square Footage: 28,000 square feetIn a Former Life: An eight-plex cinemaCost of Renovation: About $2.5 million, not including the construction of the poolFun Fact: On a Friday afternoon, club patrons can smell the popcorn being made in the movie theater while running on the treadmill.

In early 2002, the owner of the 20-year-old eight-plex movie theater in the small town of Moorpark, CA, filed for bankruptcy and shut the theater's doors. However, the building got two new lives in 2002, when Epic Enterprises purchased the building, upgraded three of the theaters to the latest movie specs and stadium seating, and converted the other five theaters into a 28,000-square-foot health club. The three theaters opened in December 2002, and the health club opened in June 2003.

Mavericks Sports Club and Cinema 3, which is situated in a strip mall, features cardio and strength training areas, locker rooms, group exercise, spinning and yoga rooms, child care and offices. During the multi-million dollar renovation project, Epic Enterprises added a 9,000-square-foot mezzanine and constructed two swimming pools, an outdoor children's play area and a locker room building. The company also integrated the existing lobby and men's and women's bathrooms into the health club.

To convert part of the cinema into a club, the construction crew gutted five of the theaters and poured a new foundation.

"They were the regular, old-fashioned theaters, and while they didn't have stadium seating, there was a slight incline, so everything had to be leveled," says Joey Cappucino, managing partner and vice president of the club.

In March 2007, Cappuccino and Shelley Jensen purchased the facility from the owners. Although the club is no longer part of the Mavericks chain of clubs, which has six locations in five other California towns, it has retained the name Mavericks.

Perhaps the biggest design challenge involved devising a way to divide the flow of traffic between the health club and the movie theater, which share the same lobby. To control the influx of visitors and to keep movie patrons from accidentally wandering into the health club, the owners positioned a check-in desk in the middle of the lobby. The left doors are for patrons who want to work out at the health club. The right doors are for patrons who want to see a movie.

So far, the business has been an effective way to serve the families in Moorpark, a town that has grown from 18,000 people to 42,000 people during the past 15 years, Cappucino says. The club has 3,000 members, and the theater has about 6,000 patrons a month.

"If we didn't have this complex, our town wouldn't have a movie theater or a gym," he says. "This allows us to keep everything running under the same roof."